嗿
Character Story & Explanation
嗿 appears almost exclusively in classical and literary contexts — most notably in the Book of Songs (Shījīng), China’s oldest poetry anthology (c. 11th–7th century BCE). In Ode 259, 'Jiǎo Gōng' (《小雅·吉日》), the line '儦儦俟俟，或群或友。悉率左右，以燕天子。... 嗿其馌，于彼南亩。' uses 嗿 to evoke the hearty, harmonious sounds of laborers eating together in the southern fields — a poetic device praising communal harmony and agricultural abundance. This is its only well-documented, canonical usage.
The character is not pictographic; it’s a phono-semantic compound: 口 (mouth/sound) + 覃 (tán/tǎn, phonetic, historically meaning 'profound' or 'extended', suggesting resonance and volume). No oracle bone or bronze script forms survive — it first appears in transmitted Warring States bamboo texts and the received Shījīng. Today, it’s virtually unused in speech or modern writing — reserved for scholarly commentary or poetic recreation.
Hi students! Let’s talk about the character 嗿 (tǎn). It’s a rare but vivid onomatopoeic word — not a common daily character, but one that paints a rich sensory picture. It specifically imitates the collective, rhythmic, cheerful sound of many people eating together — think of a bustling banquet hall or a family reunion dinner with chopsticks clinking, bowls being lifted, and happy murmurs all blending into one warm, resonant hum. Though it looks complex, its meaning is beautifully concrete: sound + eating + togetherness.
This character belongs to the ‘mouth’ radical (口), which makes perfect sense — all sounds in Chinese related to vocalization, speech, or oral action usually carry this component. The right side, 覃, is a phonetic element hinting at pronunciation (tǎn) and also carries connotations of depth and abundance — fitting for a full, resonant group dining sound. Don’t worry about memorizing it for everyday conversation; instead, appreciate it as a linguistic ‘flavor note’ in classical and literary Chinese.
As a beginner, you won’t encounter 嗿 in HSK exams or beginner textbooks — it’s not assigned an HSK level because it’s outside the standardized syllabus. But learning it helps you understand how Chinese builds expressive, context-rich vocabulary: combining meaning (mouth/sound) and sound (覃), then grounding it in real human experience — shared meals. It’s a lovely reminder that language isn’t just about utility; it’s about capturing life’s textures, like the joyful noise of community nourishment.
Example Sentences
Common Compounds
Similar Characters — Don't Mix These Up
Your First Step into Chinese Culture: Get a Chinese Name
Every journey into Chinese begins with a name. Use our free Chinese name generator to create a meaningful, personalized Chinese name that fits you perfectly.
Get My Chinese Name →